Sustained release of guaifenesin and ipriflavone from biodegradable coatings

Biodegradable plastics are an interesting class of drug carriers for controlled release, as they can decompose to nontoxic, readily bioresorbable products and are advantageous over conventional biomaterials because they do not require surgical retrieval from the body after completion of treatment. In this work, films of poly(d,l-lactic acid) (d,l-PLA) were deposited by the solvent casting technique, onto the surfaces of stainless steel plates and their biodegradation was studied after immersion in buffer solutions. The release of two model drugs, i.e. guaifenesin and ipriflavone, from the above d,l-PLA systems loaded with these compounds at various concentrations, was also studied.The experimental results showed that for low drug concentrations, the release of guaifenesin is controlled by the biodegradation rate of PLA, whereas for high concentrations the burst effect becomes the dominant release mechanism. The rate of release is faster at low pH values probably due to an acceleration of PLA biodegradation, whereas there are no chemical interactions between drug and polymer, that could essentially influence the release rate of the drug or the biodegradation of the polymer. On the other hand, high guaifenesin concentrations produce increased porosity in the PLA matrix and seem to accelerate its biodegradation and further the drug release rate. Finally, the release of ipriflavone in a mixture of 2-propanol/water is clearly a two stage process and, again, the burst effect seems to control the delivery process at high drug concentration.In conclusion, the present study shows that similar results to those obtained with d,l-PLA tablets loaded with model drugs can be obtained with thin coatings of the same systems. This might be of interest for transfer of the existing knowledge to the design of biomedical implants, treated with coatings of d,l-PLA containing reactive compounds.